Blood Red

Chapter 6

Alan and Meghan Tripp were beside themselves when the sun rose on their son’s empty bedroom. He had been in bed by nine; they knew that, because they’d tucked him in together. He was a good kid and even though he was getting older, he still tolerated their doting on him.

Now he was gone.

By the time he should have been getting ready for school, they had torn through every room in the house. By the time he should have been finishing his breakfast, they had called everyone they could think of. No one had seen Avery after they put him into bed.

Meghan was a wreck, pacing and wringing her hands. Avery had been something of an unexpected miracle child, coming as he did after an early partial hysterectomy. There was no chance that they would ever have another child, and even if they did, he would never be able to replace Avery. He was her baby, and she was devastated by his disappearance.

Alan was holding it in better, but he wanted to scream. Instead, he did the only wise thing and called the police. They were there in less than five minutes; no one in Black Stone Bay took child abduction lightly. Not after what had happened with the Whittaker girl back in ’87. Carla Whittaker had been stolen from her bedroom in the middle of the night, and at first her parents thought she had run away to get attention. For the first three days, the Whittaker family simply made polite inquiries of her friends and school chums.

Then the phone calls came. An anonymous voice spoke urgently, demanding ransom and secrecy. An hour later, the caller rang them again and almost every hour after that the calls came fast and hard, some time after the fourth day of quiet, polite searching was done. The kidnappers wanted money, of course, and they would not let anyone speak to Carla.

The story did not play out well. After the money was delivered, the phone calls stopped. Pieces of Carla were found along the coast for several months. All of them were fresh when they were located. The last piece they found was her head, which the coroner determined had only been in the water for a few hours when fishermen found it. The case had never been solved.

So, yes, it was fair to say that no one in Black Stone Bay took missing children lightly.

The questions were endless, of course. Did they have a recent picture? Yes, and also video footage. Did they know what he was wearing? The clothes he had worn to school were not in the hamper, so yes, he was wearing a green flannel shirt, blue jeans, and red Reeboks. His jacket was also missing, a dark brown leather bomber jacket that he had requested for his birthday. Did he have any friends in the area? Damned near every child in the school and in the neighborhood; he was a well-liked young man. Did he have any enemies? No. Even Lucien Hawkings liked him, and the old bastard didn’t like anyone. Where were they when he disappeared? They didn’t know when he vanished, but they were likely in bed. When did they realize he was missing? Five minutes before they called the police. The list went on and on.

By noon there were almost four hundred people searching for Avery Tripp. By four in the afternoon, there were closer to eight hundred. By sunset, a lot of very disappointed people were ready to call it quits.

Alan Tripp was not among them. He wandered the streets until almost two in the morning before he came home and fell into a troubled sleep. In his dreams he heard Avery crying for help, and try though he did, he could not find his son.

When he awoke in the morning, Avery was still missing. He left the house with the dawn and began searching again. There were so many places his son could be; Avery loved to explore. He was never happier than when he was out finding new things.

Maggie had to give credit where it was due; Lance Brewster was very good at groveling. After she had finally conceded to call the man, he spent twenty minutes apologizing for the way he’d mistreated her. She spent twenty minutes listening to his attempts at an explanation without giving an inch to him.

He swore it would never happen again and confessed that he had feelings for her that went beyond what he should have. That did not get him any further with her. Maggie didn’t have the time to be his personal toy and she most certainly didn’t have the time to listen as he went on about how his wife didn’t understand him. She knew all about the divorce he was going through; she just did not care.

Finally, after almost an hour of his begging, she allowed that she could be free that night.

The man was in tears on the phone. It was really rather embarrassing. Still, he was normally a good client. Unless he wanted to make sure that he never saw her again, he would continue to be a good client.

Besides, after the incident with Tom the night before, she needed a little reminder that some people actually cared for her, even if they cared for all the wrong reasons.

Monkey Boy had come in on a rampage, ready to cause her no end of grief, and had managed to show mercy for whatever reason. She was grateful, which was really the main factor that made her give in to his request.

Yes, grateful; because now the one person she’d met recently who was becoming a friend wasn’t suddenly looking at her like she was a whore. In the grander scheme of things, it wouldn’t matter all that much what Ben Kirby thought of her, but it was still nice to have a guy she could talk to who didn’t seem desperate to get into her pants.

They arranged to meet at the Windbreakers, a very fine dining establishment known for their excellent food and atrocious costs. He brought her a pair of diamond earrings that was beyond excessive, and gave her a matching necklace as well. She thanked him politely, and warmed up a small amount. They had a nice meal, with excellent food, just a little wine, and some decent conversation. Of course he had to mention his wife again and the misery she was putting him through, but that came with the territory.

After dinner, she made him beg again; in the bedroom she made him beg as well. She did not stay the night with him in his hotel suite. He wanted her to, but she had school in the morning.

She left Monkey Boy’s portion of the money in the drop slot of his front door. She knew the signs that Tom was getting antsy. She also knew the best way to get him to behave was to keep her end of the bargain they’d struck some time back.

She kept the diamonds. They were hers. Any apologies that had to be made were made to her, and not to the prick who thought he owned her.

She didn’t feel like going home, and she was far from tired. So it was off to the diner. Sally was probably working, and Sally was normally good for a few jokes while she ate.

No one was more surprised than she was to find Ben there. It was a nice surprise, but unexpected.

He was leaning over his laptop and typing furiously. His fingers moved so fast she would have thought the keyboard would catch fire. She slipped in across from him, moving as carefully as she could, amused by how intent he was on his typing.

When he finally looked up, he actually jumped in his seat. “Hey!” He looked embarrassed. “I mean, hi.”

She laughed, and reached across the table to graze his hand with her fingers. “I didn’t mean to scare you. You just looked so intent I didn’t want to disturb your work.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m just… gathering my thoughts.”

“Did you get what you were looking for? For your friend?” She didn’t have to clarify. He knew what she was talking about.

“Yes.” A quick flash of a smile that degraded into a yawn. “Excuse me. I did get it. I’m going to tell her tomorrow.” He rubbed at his eyes for a second and stared at her. After a second he remembered it wasn’t polite to stare and looked greedily at his now empty coffee cup.

“You’re sweet to go through all of that.” He blushed. She had never known anyone who blushed as often as he did. She looked around and waved to Sally, who had been taking a large order from a group of businessmen. Sally smiled and nodded as Maggie made a few gestures for food, coffee, and a refill over here.

“Why are you staring at me, Ben?”

If she thought he’d blushed before, she was mistaken. He was red all the way to his ears when she asked. It was cruel, maybe, but she couldn’t help teasing him just a bit. He almost begged for a good teasing.

“Sorry. Really, I am. You just took me off guard and I’ve never seen you dressed that way.”

Maggie hadn’t even really given her clothing any consideration. She was dressed for a night out, and once the wardrobe had been chosen it was the last thing she thought about. The dress she was wearing was a formal little black thing that clung to all of her curves. She liked it and saved it for special occasions.

“I had a dinner date. Is it too much?”

“No. No, not at all.” He was doing a wonderful job of not stammering.

She laughed and playfully swatted his arm. “Down, boy. It’s just me under all of this goop.” She gestured to her face and the makeup she had carefully applied earlier. “I’ll be back in regular clothes tomorrow.”

“Yeah, well, don’t go changing on my behalf. You look beautiful.” He stared at his monitor as he said it, and then closed the screen so he could look at her properly.

“Well, thanks. It’s always nice to be appreciated.”

Sally set down her omelet and coffee, then topped off Ben’s cup. After she’d walked away to handle the businessmen, Ben smiled and poured a few spoonfuls of sugar into his coffee.

“I didn’t expect to find you here, Ben. Why the change of scenery?”

“Because if I stared at my walls for another minute, I’d go crazy.”

“Is that the only reason?”

“No. I also ran out of coffee.”

Maggie laughed. It was nice to know she wasn’t being stalked. She’d had enough of that to last her a lifetime.

It was nice to relax. It was beyond nice to be able to just be herself around a guy. Ben was sweet and he was cute, she was going to have to watch herself around him. She couldn’t afford to fall for anyone. Her plans for the future did not include being in a relationship; at least not for a while.

They went to the apartment building together, then to their separate apartments almost immediately after they reached them. She paused long enough to give Ben another kiss on the cheek. After that, she slept. It had been a very difficult day and a taxing night. She needed the rest. There were more names on Jason Soulis’s list, and she had school to consider.

Teddy wanted to go look for Avery. Kelli could see it in every move he made and every pace he took around the house. His parents had decided he needed to recover his strength and she couldn’t exactly disagree with the idea. While he seemed far stronger than he had the day before, he was still looking as pale as a ghost.

“Honey, we can’t go looking for Avery.” Damn, it hurt to look at his disappointment. “You’re just not strong enough yet.”

“But I am, Kelli!” His voice was shrill and he looked like he was going to cry. She knew the feeling. Avery was a little munchkin and he was always in trouble, but he was also a sweet kid.

“I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you get on a good coat and we can drive around for a while, okay? Maybe we’ll spot something or even see Avery.”

He didn’t have the energy to jump and cheer, but he gave it the old college try. They left the house ten minutes later, both of them bundled up in heavy coats against the risk of deeply cold rain. The day was overcast and the air was promising a downpour before it was all said and done.

Kelli drove carefully, minding the speed limit more than she usually did. Teddy rested his forehead against the passenger’s side window and looked out at the street and the houses that they drove past. His body barely moved, but she could see his eyes reflected in the glass and could see that he was desperately searching for any sign that Avery might be nearby.

Just past the last of the houses on the Cliff Walk drive, they came to a small patch of woods. There was a squad car parked in the small turnaround area, and a tall, dark-haired policeman was looking over four cardboard boxes with a look of quiet fury etched into his plain features. For just a moment, she imagined she could see discarded, bloody clothing in the boxes and Kelli drove a little faster. There was something about the cop that gave her a bad vibe.

“Do you think he’s dead, Kelli?”

“What? Oh no, sweetie. I think maybe he just got lost.” Did she think Avery was dead? She hoped he wasn’t. He was a sweet kid, and she knew Teddy would be devastated.

She thought about his face when she’d busted them with the girly magazine. Avery was a vivacious boy and he wasn’t afraid of very much in the world. That could be a big benefit, but it could also be a dangerous way to live. Avery Tripp might very well be dead, and she hated that she couldn’t get the notion out of her mind.

The sun broke through the clouds a bit and she took that as a good sign. Cloudy days always made her feel depressed.

They drove in silence for a while, covering the entire shoreline of Black Stone Bay and then circling the road to the downtown area. It wasn’t until she got to the entrances of the universities, where they faced each other, that she realized Teddy was unconscious and drooling against the window.

It was faster to drive to the hospital than to call an ambulance.

The sun set on the second day of looking for Avery Tripp with little having changed, save that his parents were staggering around like boxers who’d been hit too many times. Ben knew the police were working their collective asses off, and so were the volunteers out looking for the kid.

Danni Hopkins was wringing her hands. She felt bad about the little boy whose face adorned the front page of the newspaper, but she felt a lot worse about her own life at the moment.

Ben was supposed to be here already and she was sitting in the same park as the last time she saw him, as the sun set. She wasn’t comfortable waiting alone. She was a lot less happy about being by herself in the park than she’d been only a week earlier.

Brian Freemont had taken away a few delusions about the kindness of her fellow human beings. She’d spent most of the last few nights wishing she could sleep, and hoping that somehow, somewhere down the line, she could get her mind to stop focusing on having the man on top of her and doing his best to fuck her through the ground.

Remembering what she’d done to avoid jail had certainly put her life into perspective. Danni wasn’t planning on ever touching another illegal substance for as long as she lived. She was also thinking a life of celibacy wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Her stomach gave a faint rumble of protest; she also hadn’t been eating for the last few days. Every time she cooked something and sat down to eat, she found she lacked the energy. Physically, she was ravenous. Her emotional appetite was gone, and maybe forever.

Ben came along a minute after the campus clock struck a single note to announce the quarter hour. He moved over to her bench and settled down next to her.

“Sorry I’m late. I had to check on a few things.”

Danni looked at him for a moment, half expecting him to say something vulgar. She’d been regretting telling him what happened ever since she’d opened her mouth. It would only take one word from him and her reputation around the school would be shattered.

Still, she made herself be nice. “Hi. It’s not a problem.” She forced a strained smile onto her face. “You said you wanted to talk to me?”

“Yeah.” He nodded and then reached into his jacket pocket to pull out a paper bag. “This is for you.”

She looked at him long and hard, her mind reeling a bit. “Is this… ?”

“Yeah. Don’t open it here.” He shrugged. “You hear of any others who got… in trouble with him, you can tell them that I burned the evidence bags. You get yours back, because I wanted you to know.”

Danni started crying, right then and there. She couldn’t help it. “Oh, God, Ben… oh, my fucking God…” She cried harder, the bag in her hand held tightly.

“Oh, hey.” He moved his hands around, helplessly, his face puzzled by her reaction. “Listen, I didn’t mean to make you cry…” He looked like he wanted to run away, and she couldn’t help but laugh.

“No, Ben. Oh, no, I just can’t tell you how happy I am.” She broke down again, and Ben nodded, looking extremely relieved.

“Well, that’s good then. I don’t like to see you cry, Danni.”

He patted her shoulder awkwardly and she hugged him hard, breathing against his neck and knowing that she was probably covering him with slobber and tears but unable to stop herself.

She pulled back after a few minutes, when the worst of the storm was over, and wiped her face. “I cried all over you.”

“It’s okay.” He looked uncomfortable.

“How can I thank you, Ben? I can’t believe you did this for me.”

Ben stood up and smiled warmly, his eyes halfway between being happy and being somewhere else in his head. “You don’t have to thank me, Danni. Just, don’t ever get yourself caught that way again—”

“—I won’t! I swear. I’m staying clean from now on!”

He nodded, “And don’t ever tell anyone what I did, okay? Somewhere out there, a very angry cop is probably looking for me right now.”

“Never a word, Ben. Thank you. Thanks so much.”

“Have a good night, Danni. I’ll see you in class, okay?”

He walked away and she watched him, still overwhelmed by what he’d done. She had a flash of guilt ripple across her mind. Part of her had expected him to demand similar treatment in return.

The worst part was she probably would have done it; just to be sure she was safe from Brian Freemont.

She crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly cold as the wind picked up, and shivered. The chill was only partly from the weather. What did it say about her if she would screw a guy by way of saying thanks? She didn’t like to think about it, but the thought wouldn’t leave her alone.

Danni rose from the bench with the package still clutched tightly in her hand. She looked around the park for a second, surprised to realize that the sun was gone from the sky. The only light left came from the lamps along the walkways.

She moved toward her car, planning on heading home.

The man stepped out in front of her from the shadows, seeming to simply grow from the darkness as he stepped forward.

“Oh!” She dropped the brown bag, her heart thudding hard at the sudden appearance.

He looked at her, his eyes hidden in shadows, a smile threatening to form on his mouth.

“You scared the crap out of me.” And listen to her! She was laughing! It was amazing what one small, kind act could do to renew her belief in mankind.

He nodded amiably and then moved. One second he was standing easily fifteen or twenty feet away, and the next he was in front of her, his hand grabbing at her neck, lifting her from the ground.

She looked into the dark pools where his eyes should have been and thought she saw something in there that looked back with contempt.

“Shhh, child. We have things to discuss, you and I. Things best said in a private place.”

He carried her weight with ease, and pulled her away from the park and into the darkness.

And in the darkness she felt pain, and the rhythmic pounding of the surf became her lullaby.

The Listers paid better attention to the doctors the second time around. They also decided to leave their son in the hospital, despite their mutual dislike of medical facilities. At home he was their son. At the hospital he was patient number L-00041- 30038. There was a little problem with having their only child looked upon as a number in a large field of numbers.

Doctor Alex Houston convinced them that he would personally supervise every action that took place regarding Teddy’s well-being. They took him at his word. He’d been Teddy’s physician since the boy was born, and if they had to trust someone, he would have to do.

Kelli was not nearly as convinced. Especially when she heard him say that the problems might only be in her young charge’s head. Teddy had never been that excitable in her eyes. He also didn’t look like he was suffering from a sudden wish to not go to school. Even now he was paler than she had ever seen him.

He woke up for a while and complained of being hungry. Kelli had been prepared for that and pulled a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich out of her purse. It was warm, but he at least tried to eat it. When it came to the hospital’s culinary offerings, he simply pushed the grayish-brown lump of what was supposed to be meatloaf around on the plate and etched lines into his pasty mashed potatoes. The only thing he ate was the Jell-O, and then only because it was cherry-flavored.

While she kept him as entertained as she could, his parents argued with the hospital staff and made clear that if anything should happen to their boy, there would be Hell to pay and a few demons sent along to charge interest besides.

Visiting hours ended at nine P.M.; Kelli left for the Lister house at five after, her eyes almost crossing from exhaustion. By the time she got to her room, she was wide awake again. She couldn’t get past the very idea that Teddy might be “willing himself sick.” The doctor was an imbecile. Just because they couldn’t find a physical cause for his ailments didn’t mean there wasn’t a legitimate health risk.

The Listers got home a few minutes after she did, and Michelle immediately went up to her office. She’d let her work go all day long and now she needed to catch up on a few briefs. Kelli understood. Bill was less pleased. He had attorneys in his office that could take care of his cases for the day. Apparently his wife didn’t have the same resources in her own firm.

They both sat on the porch, Kelli and her employer. She looked at the gray house across the way and saw no sign that anyone lived there at all. Bill lit a cigarette. He’d smoked three times as many in the last day as he normally did in a week.

“I don’t think it’s psychosomatic, Bill.”

“There’s no way it could be, Kelli. He’s a good boy and his mind is as sharp as a razor.”

She nodded in the darkness. “I think something bit him and he’s having an allergic reaction.”

“It’s possible, but the doctors already gave him a wide spectrum of antibiotics and enough Benadryl to keep him from sneezing for the next six months.” He shrugged his broad shoulders and inhaled deeply. Most people would have thought he was perfectly calm, but Kelli knew all of the Listers well enough to see the worry in his actions, even if he never let it show on his face.

She sighed. “I hope he’s okay, Bill. I’m so sorry this happened.”

“It’s nothing you did, Kelli.” He looked her way and smiled for an instant. “You’ve been wonderful. Remind me to give you a raise.”

“Oh, no. No raises. I’ll be perfectly fine with having Teddy back here and safe.”

“You’re too good to us, Kelli. This is two days in a row where you had to miss school.”

“I’ll be fine, straight As and all of that.” She dismissed his compliment and waved it away like a pesky gnat.

Theodore Thomas Lister was declared legally dead twelve minutes after Kelli went to sleep that night. The cause of death was undetermined.

The body disappeared sometime during the night.